AirAsia X – the low-cost long haul arm of Malaysian carrier AirAsia – is increasing its flights to seven per week on its recently-launched London Stansted- Kuala Lumpur service. The increase from five departures per week was prompted by the strength of early demand, and is part of the carrier’s overall expansion strategy for Europe, the carrier said.

Dublin-based IAM, which was appointed to market the airline’s cargo capacity in Ireland when it began services in March, has welcomed the move. IAM uses express overnight road feeders to connect to the airline’s departures fromLondon Stansted Airport, which are operated by Airbus A340-300 aircraftwith approximately 8,000 kg cargopayload.

From Kuala Lumpur, AirAsia X offers 18 onward widebody services per week to Australia (Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane), which are forming the main focus of IAM’s marketing effort.

Says IAM MD Ian McCool, take-up for the first flights has been very good, “and we are receiving a high volume of repeat bookings due to satisfaction with the service. The move to daily departures gives us an important extra selling point for the Irish export market.”

AirAsia and AirAsia X collectively operate 78 Airbus A320, A330 and A340, with another 142 Airbus aircraft on order.